New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-11-20
LORD LYTTON.
TIE NEW ENGLISH AMBASSADOR TO THE
,,Di>nry pEpIrpI

IN iOcl has forth thal i-oih ~ t'"' - WV
70 Paris in order to make the English Embassy
oroo moro , socuI ccntre Lord Lyons has per
hans durnr his long tenure OF o'Lce' uhder'alucu
soci,I ,unur.ces or perhaps overcstinateu the
eoci,l ditlr,lties which the very complicated ne
ot Paris offers lie lid Little more thah he was
oblired to do. The stately rooms OF the great "'n-
sion in the Rue Faubonrs -. lion0re nave ie-
maineI aluos. empty for the last twenty wears
Tha r,pli,h Ambassador was not parsonage IN
French society except rs Ambassadors nor was he'
in trotb. well fitted to take the lead in enter
,rise which require social initiative, frankness OF
address, cor.iality of manner and the ether like
Gifts on which Frencnmen set hi CHER value than
any other people in the!world. lie never tried to
do what the late American Minister and MIS-
Morton accomplished There was no LAZY Lyons
and no man, however gifted. could nave Greater
ench a salon as Mrs Morton~ The American
Legation tor the first time in It's history, became
an Mr. and Mrs. Morton'S time real social centre
If anybodv thinks that slight matter or thing
.os;lv MANAGED let him or her 20 to Paris and try
Lord Lytton, however, is about 70 try. and Lady
Luton NAV he compared with Mrs. Morton as n
hostess whose tact and charm of manner and
ACCOMPLISHMENTS command success. She was
Vulicr~. daughter 10 .he Hon. Edward Niiliers and
niece to that wel,-known fourth Earl Of Clarendon
who was twice Minister of Forei IN Ataira and
who before that, had been Her britannia Maiesty's
occurred that event which had much later, so
grave an Influence on the dcstinies OF the late
Emperor Napoleon and OF France. Ii the French
were as well up in genealOgy as Ill gossip some
thing might he said of Lord Clarendon The
Vliers family has had moro than one fascinating
representative. and Lady Lyttous surviving uncle.
Mr.. Charles Niiers one of the heroes OF the Corn
Law agit ation is to-day one of the most interesting
men in London, with few rivals in the art of con-
~eTsation
TIE English Embassy, moreover, offers alvan
tagcs such rs no American Legation could pretend
TO- Ii is palace and il has all the prestige which
belongs to palace and to a permanent diplomatic
home The American Legation in Par.s, as in
London. Is here to-day and gone tomorrow. Mr..
Morton's private fortune enabled him to arrange
his diplomatic life spendidly lie occupied large
hotel to use the French word, on the Place Des
Flats UniS. which the civil Parislans. when they
saw how we'll he was doing tie thing, named IN
honor of tho country he represented. lut when
Mr. Morton ceased to be Minister the hotel at the
ton of the Place Des Etats Cnis ceased to be the
United States Legation. Our present Minister is
content with handsome apartment in the Avenue
de Marcrau Tho social position of the Mortons
was a briant one that of their successors il re-
spectacle salon may 20 TO pieces much moro
rapidly than it is formed, and the French clement
at the American Legation has, hear largely given
place to the COLONIAL by which mean tic CoAeHS
of Americans who make Paris their home.
Perhaps an Embassy or Legation is now the only
house IN Paris where the various sections of
Partisan society can meet Political divisions are
carried into society. There is, it may be said, no
society. There are only social clques Tho Eau
bong st. .jelmain long since Closed its doors on
outsiders. and even on itself The watchword OF
the Lcgitimist faction is secluSop. so long as the
Republic lasts L; is not good form to give balls
and great parties while the king is kept from his
own and while the Princes are in exile. The
La Rocheioucaulds AMI De Brogllcs are resolved
that the Republic shall be dull, shall borrow no
reflected splendOr from the glyeties OF roy allSt
arstocracy While the Legitmists and Orleanists
were divided into two camps they visitel each
other but little. Now they NAV fraternize but at
none of the great houses are great entertainments
habitually given. The haute toaUOcoisic. the great
bankers, the hQute finance Of Paris. the BouleN ard
Iiaussnann and the Faubourg St Honore are
divided from the Faubourg ST. German as by
great gulf and by narrower from each
ether. 1t was an event when the Due lie La Roch
foucaud-Bsacci went on from his own house
with the Prince OF Wales and few other friends
TO the great bankers whose new hotel IN tho Bonle
ward ilaus,maDu one of the wont"r' OF Paris
As for the Eysee and the Ministerial residences,
their receptions are purely official II You ask
true Pasenne why she does not 90 to these Test v
tiles she viii shrug her pretty shoulders still
further out Of her gown AMI tell v,u That the Re.
publican women are ImrOssbe-a phrase OF when
the responsibility and also the explanation must be
left 10 her.
We'll this is the social chaos ont OF which Lord
Lytton has to create new social lie IN III" EngIsh
Embassy His enemies dwell bitterly on his point
icol mistakes They do not deny to HIM rare al
qualities aud gifts or graceful genius for verse
The French are such singular people that Lord
Lytton's literary reputation will be of ~ much
help 10 him in Paris as his title. They will never
be abba to distinguish bet wecn tho one lie Inherited
from his father and the which lie earned for
himself. The chances that the French papers
will call him Lord Owen or Sir Meredith ana at
intervals in respectful me nory OF the late novelist
Sir Bulwe-. He is "mllOrP and one klnd OIL
lordiis almost as COOL another to nation which
albeit foud of decorations cares moro TOR equality
than for almost anything else. The distinction
which literature confers in France is certainly oil
higher kind than in England. and Lord Lytton may
reap Inc benefit of his own and of his fathers.
Perhaps it is little curious that Englishmen
shout lay SO much emphasis on the fact that ne
can sneak French fiuently AMI elegantly. They
have always had o certain surly pride in their IN
capactv TO sustain conversation IN foreign IAN
Qnages They repeat to yon with evident pleasure
Prince Bisnarck's observation that the late LORD
Ampthil Chettcr known as LORI Odo Russell was
the only Englishnan he ever knew WHO was hneht
in French and could be trusted. Lord Lytton was
Secretary to the Paris Embassy from 1872 to 1874
and ,uay he forgiven his proficiency IN the French
tongue. The French themselves, he 1t Observed
are sensitive to the comIl emit as they think it,
paid them by a foreigner who talks to them freely
In their own language They seldom return IT,
kWhat the French value not less Is that Dexlbillty
of character which enables u man to eaten the
tone Of world different from his own. " might
not be easy to say what is, or was, lord Lytton"
nl.rnal in lie dllll lie